A tribute to Paddington Bear! Marmalade cupcakes

My first order for 2015 is chocolate cupcakes and chocolate cake for a little girl's fifth birthday. As she had very specific ideas on how the cupcakes should look like, her mum and I had to brainstorm in order to have her name and Happy Birthday indicated on the cupcakes. I suggested having letters and numbers candles but they were pretty expensive. The ones for Happy Birthday were reasonably priced but for her name and number, it will cost about SGD30. After looking around for different ideas, I decided to print my own cupcake toppers in the birthday girl's favourite colour, pink. Pretty?

When that was done, I searched for Paddington Bear cupcake toppersonline as I just watched the heart-warming movie on very early on New Year's Day. I was introduced to Paddington Bear as a child when my uncle bought me a very thick storybook on the adventures of Paddington Bear. Along with Pooh Bear, Paddington Bear has become a personal favourite. Till this day, I still have a Paddington Bear plush at home.  As I didn't find any cupcake toppers online, I decided to make my own using Microsoft Publisher. It was not difficult though I had to adjust the images a few times in order to get the correct size. Here they are!

After printing the toppers, inspiration struck! Why not make Marmalade cupcakes to go with the cupcake toppers since that is Paddington's favourite? Coincidentally I have a church gathering the next evening and so I ended up baking at almost 10pm! The cupcakes smell so good and while waiting for them to cool before decorating, I decided to write this post. Sorry I didn't take much photos while making the cupcakes. The photos will be taken in the morning when the light is better.

Marmalade Cupcakes (makes about 15 cupcakes)

175g soften unsalted butter
1/2 cup caster sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 1/2 cup self-raising flour
3 tbsp of marmalade
1 tsp salt

1. Pre-heat oven at 180 deg C
2.Beat soften butter and caster sugar till creamy and pale.
3. Add in the marmalade and mix well
4. Beat in the eggs one at a time
5. Add the vanilla essence and mix well
6. Add in the salt and self-raising flour and mix well.
7. Scoop into cupcake liners till about 80% full.
8. Bake for 20 minutes till skewers come out clean.
9. Leave till cool before frosting

Cream Cheese frosting 
250g soften cream cheese
125g soften butter
1/2 cup icing sugar
3 tbsp marmalade
1 tsp vanilla essence

1. Beat the cream cheese and butter till smooth.
2. Add the icing sugar, marmalade and vanilla essence and mix till smooth.
3. Frost the cupcakes as desired.

I had difficulty piping the cupcakes due to the chunky zest in the marmalade. I would probably used orange juice to replace the marmalade in the frosting next time.

Here they are all frosted and chilled after one night in the fridge.

With the cupcake toppers and the star!

All packed in the box and ready for the party later!